Kirov Saga: Darkest Hour: Altered States - Volume II (Kirov Series) by John Schettler Read Free Book Online

have missed or
failed in some way. It’s almost certain they could not have any chance to shoot
it down.”
    “No sir, we detected the
detonation. I think we must have hit one of the smaller ships. The contacts
were very close to one another in that formation—so close that we almost read
it as a single contact until I did some signal processing.”
    “The carrier was probably being
screened by those destroyers. If that is what happened then we may be too late
to stop them from launching.”
    “I’m reading at least seven
aircraft up already, but we can put another missile on them in three minutes.”
Rodenko folded his arms, waiting for a decision.
    Admiral Volsky had been listening
from across the Captain’s chair, brooding as he watched the dull red sky. “It
is clear we must have struck one of those destroyers,” he said.
    Their plan to disrupt the
carrier’s launch operation had been foiled by the lucky positioning of the
destroyer Sigfrid close off the carrier’s starboard side—lucky for Graf
Zeppelin , but not for Sigfrid , which took the P-900 that was meant
for its bigger brother right amidships, and died an agonizing death.
    “We might have used the Vodopad
system,” thought Fedorov. “But we were just not close enough. The range was
well over 200 kilometers from our present position, and the Vodopads max out at
120 klicks.”
    “The same result could have
happened, even if we configured it to wake homing mode as you suggested
Fedorov. These weapons make a target selection, and it could have run right up
the wake of one of those screening ships. Remember, our systems were never
designed to fire in isolation at a battlegroup like this. We have always fired
in salvos or three to twenty SSMs, enough to completely saturate a modern
defense and obliterate the target. If that were a modern American carrier we
would have fired with nearly every missile we had. As it stands, one of their
screening units was just hit, and now they must be wondering what happened.”
    “Well, we’ve stuck a big stick in
the bee hive,” said Rodenko. “I’m reading another eight planes up—make that ten—seventeen
planes aloft now.”
    “Are they bearing southwest to
the scene of the surface action?”
    “Not yet, but where else would
they be headed?”
    Volsky shrugged. “We tried a
little surprise attack, just like our late Mister Karpov would have advised, but
I think he would have put at least three missiles to this task. We had to be
stingy, and now we got nothing for our trouble, and our missile inventory slips
another notch.”
    “This means we will have to
extend our SAM umbrella over the battle zone, sir.” Fedorov knew that would
also have a cost. They wanted to try and be discreet, applying the tremendous
power of their modern weapons incrementally to try and affect the outcome here,
but it was going to take something more. Beyond the missiles they would have to
commit, the visibility of their SAM defense could have unforeseen consequences.
    “Mister Samsonov,” Volsky said
quietly. “What is our SAM inventory?”
    “Sir, my board reads thirty S-400 Triumf missiles remaining, and all conversions to full SAM mode have
been completed. On the Klinok system we have ninety-eight missiles
ready, and our Kashtan system still has fifty missiles available.”
    Volsky thought. “Then if we had
to shoot down all those planes Rodenko is now reporting we would use ten
percent of our SAM inventory, but after that I think this German aircraft
carrier will pose no further threat. If, however, we decide to use an SSM now,
it may take several hits to disable that ship, and its planes are already in
the air. Very well, secure SSMs. Extend SAM shield over the battle zone, and
let us hope the British planes are not so eager to return to the action.”
    “We may not have to shoot them
all down,” said Fedorov. “And once we let those missiles fly they are going to
turn every head within sighting range.”
    “Well,